Ferryman

September 1, 2021
In the wasteland between life and death, Scottish teen Dylan falls in love with her ferryman. On her way from Glasgow to Aberdeen to meet her estranged father for the first time, Dylan's train crashes in a tunnel. Dazed, she emerges, expecting to find ambulances and other survivors--but the only person she sees is Tristan, a solemn teenage boy who insists she follow him. They walk across rolling hills, staying in abandoned cottages at night until an attack by shadowy wraiths forces Tristan to reveal the truth: Dylan died in the crash, and Tristan is there to shepherd her across the land between life and death. Dylan inevitably falls for him but knows that at the end of the journey she's supposed to move on, while he must remain to ferry another soul across the wasteland. Yet she's determined to find a way for them to be together. The narrative's close third-person perspective mainly centers on Dylan but occasionally alternates to Tristan, revealing that he's just as smitten as she is. Unfortunately, their chemistry falls flat, and the characters feel uninspired. Despite an intriguing premise, the first half of the story is bogged down in their repetitive journey between safe houses, and the worldbuilding is slow to come together. Main characters default to White. May please some readers hoping to escape into an otherworldly romance. (Fantasy romance. 12-16)

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September 15, 2021
Grades 7-10 What happens after we die? This atmospheric, romantic Scottish fantasy offers an intriguing answer. Fifteen-year-old Dylan is traveling from Glasgow to Aberdeen for a weekend with her estranged father when her train crashes. Dylan manages to get out, expecting to encounter emergency personnel. But she finds only a teenage boy, who convinces her to follow him. The two walk for miles through desolate, deserted countryside as Tristan explains that Dylan died in the crash. He is a Ferryman, tasked with accompanying souls on their journey across the wasteland to the other side. And it is a perilous journey--darkness brings wraiths and demons, forcing them to shelter in safe houses each night. Along the way, they fall in love. Tristan knows their love is hopeless, but Dylan is determined to find a way to release Tristan from his obligation. It will require courage and sacrifice, and the terror of facing the wasteland alone. Adding touches of mystery and horror as she goes, McFall reimagines Charon of Greek mythology in this gentle, engrossing love story.

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October 4, 2021
Originally published in the U.K. in 2013, this underwhelming paranormal romance takes inspiration from the Greek myth of Charon. On her way to reunite with her estranged father after 10 years, cued-white Scottish teenager Dylan is killed in a horrific train crash. After waking and escaping the wreckage, she emerges into a deserted landscape reminiscent of the Scottish highlands. There she meets brooding, handsome Tristan, a sandy-haired, cobalt-eyed boy near her own age who is soon revealed to be her personal ferryman, charged with leading her through the “land between worlds,” a wasteland shaped by her subconscious, “to wherever going” after death. Along the perilous trek, Dylan and Tristan must face relentless wraiths, feral ghosts who prey upon new souls like hers. As they journey onward, however, the duo develops an unexpected connection—but Dylan can’t remain in the wasteland, and Tristan can’t follow her beyond. In focusing so heavily on the atmospheric setting, endless traveling, and blossoming relationship, the narrative occasionally feels lacking in emotional depth. Still, McFall (The Last Witness) spins an intimate tale of love and loss in this trilogy opener. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ben Illis, the BIA.

November 1, 2021

Gr 9 Up-After she pulls herself from a train crash, Scottish teenager Dylan finds herself in an eerie wilderness, alone except for the mysterious, handsome Tristan, whom she feels compelled to follow. But has Dylan truly survived the crash unharmed? And where is Tristan leading her? Beyond an imaginative rendering of the afterlife, McFall's work is a scrupulously exact rendering of a particular type of melodramatic teenage romantic fantasy, which will delight or aggravate readers according to their mood. The fantasy is that the unexceptional heroine somehow accrues the everlasting love and devotion of an exceptional hero. In this better-written version of the Twilight Bella-Edward dynamic, Tristan is ageless where Dylan is young, strong when she is weak, knowledgeable where she is naive. More positively, Tristan pushes Dylan to be resilient and to become independent of him, even as he craves her attention and the space she makes for him to define himself apart from his immortal role as a shepherd of the dead. While Tristan initially seems to overestimate Dylan's special empathy (Would she be so interested in him if he weren't hot?), Dylan's love inspires her to grow in physical, moral, and emotional strength. Just what readers might learn about functional human relationships is up for debate. However, McFall's depiction of the protagonists' hunger to be loved, Dylan's awkward self-consciousness about her body, and her burgeoning attraction to Tristan is meticulous, excruciating, and believable. VERDICT An escapist romance of limitless love across boundaries of life and death.-Katherine Magyarody, Texas A&M Univ., College Station

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